Questlove Lists 40 Reasons Why Prince Was a ‘Hip-Hop Pioneer’

Questlove has been celebrating the musical legacy of Prince in a variety of ways since the legendary musician's death back on April 21st. Questo penned an essay on Prince's impact days after he died, shared stories about his own personal history with The Purple One, and introduced (and defended) Madonna's controversial Prince tribute at the Billboard Music Awards two weeks ago.

This weekend, Questlove posted the Source's cover tribute to Prince and acknowledged that seeing the rock/funk/dance/pop star on the cover of a hip-hop magazine was a little strange; but then he shared 40 reasons why he thinks Prince was actually a hip-hop pioneer in many ways.

"1st i chuckled cause well...---ok it's been a min since I saw The Source but after I pondered ----yeah it made sense," he wrote in the image caption, before listing his reasons. "1) came from troubled home 2) limited access to music forces him to create his own world of music 3) Overcame Poverty 4) creates fictional background tales to keep the press guessing 5) lives by the DIY creed 6) takes fashion taboos & makes them mainstream and acceptable."

He went on to add several other Prince attributes that any rapper should be able to relate to.

"20) best drum machine programmer ever 21) used synthesizers as a way of life 22) could make an entire album in less than a week 23) balled so hard in Paris & other parts of France---so he made a film about it. 24) cut his crew off and got a new crew. 25) went all hippie like it was nothing. 26) made dis records 27) never wifed em, mostly replaced em."

The list is funny and insightful--which sums up a lot of how Questlove approaches music. Check out the full list in the Instagram pic above.